• Real Weddings

Jake and Rachel were married in Southwest Missouri on the very same family farm where Rachel grew up. With an abundance of wildflowers, antiques and DIY wedding projects, this wedding is as homegrown as it gets. From the flowers that were picked the day of the wedding, to all the carefully curated antiques used to decorate the day - Jake and Rachel put their personal touches into everything.
You must read on to hear a tidbit more. We also have to mention that Rachel actually wore her Grandmother's dress, scroll down to take a peek at her Grandma dancing with her Grandfather in the very same dress. Love that! See so many more lovely details in the full gallery here, all carefully captured by DuRall Photography. Read on to her more about this DIY wildflower wedding.

From DuRall Photography:All the flowers you see  were handpicked the morning of the wedding at 6:45am and were fashioned into the aforementioned items. They looked amazing and it was so cool to see this couple invest so much of themselves into their big day by keeping everything in house and close to home.

Rachel's sister and co-maid of honor designed all of the stationery - save the dates, invitations and enclosures, programs, and thank you notes. She hand-painted the designs and poured a lot of work into making them personal!

In addition to erecting the big metal pavilion and growing and picking the flowers, the couple dug out all sorts of cool farm related antiques and nick-knacks to add as accents to really elevate the reception site.

From wheelbarrows filled with bird seed and flowers, quilts, and bath tubs filled with spirits and refreshments, the couple really left no stone unturned for the occasion.
 The quilts were handmade by the bride's late grandmother. All the farm antiques were relics from the farm (more details on the farm provided below). Bathtubs were original to the farm - the bride's mother grew up taking baths in one of them! Milk cans were used on the farm when it used to be a dairy.

A must read from the Bride:My mom's parents moved to the 270 acre farm in 1964 and started a small dairy and family farm. She grew up there, and when she and my dad got married, they built a house on the edge of the property. I grew up there too with my 4 siblings and it was a pretty idyllic place, now full of happy memories.

Jake and I plan to live there for the rest of our lives, and are dedicated to keeping it beautiful and preserved. We were so happy to get married there, and hope our children and grandchildren love home as much as we do. Both of my mom's parents have passed away, but I know they would have been so proud and happy that we celebrated the start of our lives together at the home they worked so hard to create for their own family and generations to come.

From DuRall Photography:From the ceiling of the pavilion the couple hung lighting designed from hula hoops and Christmas lights. These provided a very intimate and ambient feel to the evening reception. Every table was lined with candles and beautiful floral arrangements.

Now, about those arrangements - This is perhaps mine and my wife's favorite detail for the day. Every floral arrangement at the reception site, including those that made up the girl's bouquets and the guy's boutonnieres, were grown by Rachel and her parents on their family farm. They were handpicked the morning of the wedding at 6:45am and were fashioned into the aforementioned items. They looked amazing and it was so cool to see this couple invest so much of themselves into their big day by keeping everything in house and close to home.

What the bride would have done differently:While I can't say we would have done many things differently, we definitely learned a lot! The most challenging part of the planning the wedding was making time for normalcy. We spent the entire summer completely dedicated to transforming the farm and reception site from a well-worn and slightly neglected barnyard into something beautiful, and it was an all-consuming project.  There wasn't much time for the everyday tasks and routines that keep you in check, so my advice to other brides would be to make time for yourself, your fiancé, AND your family!  It's so important to stop what you are doing, have a peaceful moment, and tell others they are loved and appreciated.Below is Rachel's Grandmother in the same dress that Rachel wore and her wedding.

I'd rather not provide a detailed budget breakdown, but I will share the following information to provide some guidance.

• Our biggest costs were food/drink and photography. Both were very important to us and in the end, worth every penny!
• We spent nothing on flowers and VERY little on decor. We bought a few sets of Christmas lights and some candles, but that was about it.
• We were very fortunate to have MANY friends, family members, and neighbors help in a variety of ways - catering, staffing, parking, organizing, flower arranging, etc. Some was free, a small cost was associated with some, but overall we saved a lot given the help we received.
• We just had a small cake and served sheet cake, so minimized our costs here. We served 3 different kinds of cobblers and ice cream - the cobblers were all homemade by the bride's family and grandmother, so costs were minimal. Ice cream was by a local ice cream shop.

• Cake: Classic Cakes
• Ceremony Venue: St. Ann's Catholic Church
• Cinematography: Woodruff Productions
• DJ: All That Music Entertainment
• Officiant: St. Mary's Catholic Church
• Photography: DuRall Photography
• Pointy Shoes from: Elie Tahari
• Staffing: The Help